Let me establish first and foremost that this money is in lieu of a pension.
I have 25 years left to work.
I lost to the military 5 working years (during which I lost $20,000 a year in wages) before I even received the money.
$70,000 divided by 30 years divided by 12 months = $125 a month. For a 25% disability. Wow, so glad I joined the military and signed away my life.
I'd have been better off to have gone overseas and been shot. Or leveled by an IED.
Am I bitter about this? Sometimes. Yes. I am. But I try very hard to not be.
So, what did I do with the money?
Paid off the remaining $30,000 in debt I accrued during the last five years trying to survive/rehabilitate myself.
Put $2,000 into Miles (my car) so that I could give it to my 77 year old mother and stop worrying about her driving around in something she shouldn't.
Put $2,000 into my dental care.
Paid $16,000 into a car that was three years old and is now warrantied UP THE ASS.
Paid my rent for a year so I could just relax about trying to come up with that money minus an actual job.
Put $5,000 into building my own business.
Invested $10,000 into RRSP's.
How fast it goes. And how far it doesn't go.
If I'd received a pension, at 25% over 30 years, it would have been a more liveable amount of money. Their take on that - veterans just don't spend it well. Bullshit. I spent mine well. And I'm just at zero.
I'll spend the rest of my life being unable to work more than two days a week.
And it's been well established that it's 100% the military's fault.
Is the fight over? No.
Am I getting on with my life? Finally, yes.